Five Sooner Football Players Named to Preseason All-Big 12 Team

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The Big 12 has announced its 2015 Preseason All-Big 12 Team, and the all-star unit includes five Sooner football players.

The All-Big 12 preseason selectees, voted on by media members who cover the Big 12 schools, includes two OU Sooners on offense, two on the defensive team and one on special teams.

Running back Samaje Perine and wide-receiver Sterling Shepard represent the Sooners on the preseason All-Conference offensive team. On defense are linebacker Eric Striker and defensive back Zack Sanchez. All-purpose performer Alex Ross was named to the team as a kick-return specialist. Shepard and Striker are seniors this coming season, Sanchez and Ross are juniors and Perine is in his second season with the Sooners after a standout freshman year.

With five All-Big 12 selections, Oklahoma tied TCU for the second most in the conference. Baylor led all Big 12 teams with seven players. OU and Baylor were the only teams to have more than one player named on both offense and defense.

Perine was the 2014 Big 12 Offensive Freshman of the Year and led all Big 12 running backs with 1,713 yards and 21 touchdowns. He set a new NCAA single-game rushing mark with 427 yards against Kansas. The sophomore Sooner running back ranks fifth all-time at OU for single-season rushing yards.

The Associated Press named Perine a third-team All-American selection in his debut season.

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Shepard caught 51 passes for 970 yards last season for OU, despite missing five regular-season games with an injury. His 80.8 average receiving yards over mostly seven games in 2014 ranked sixth in the Big 12. The senior was an All-Big 12 First Team selection last season.

Both Striker and Sanchez were All-Big 12 First Team Defense in 2014. Striker was a unanimous selection by the conference coaches and the media. Striker had six interceptions last season, which ranked second in the Big 12 and 13th nationally.

Ross proved to be one of the top kick-return men in the nation last season. His two touchdown returns tied for the most in the country in 2014, and his 31.2 average per kick return was third best in the nation.